Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-10-13

| body, and all bore themselves respect
fully.
.Look here, Herbert" said the
captain, addressing the sailor, who
had acted as spokesman on the previ-
GUS occasion, ''what is the matter with
the grub'''
..It's bad, sir-unfit to eat" replied
the man.
THAT is, You lazy lubbers have
agreed among you to call it bad, and
so make me put into some portp"
..Sfr, there's never man of us but
what is willing to stand for the voyage
and work our best, but the grub, sir,
begging your pardon. was spoiled long
enough before it came aboard. Would
you please inspect it. STRIP
Not by blamed sight; and now
we'll see which end of this ship sails
the other"
With that he rushed upon Herbert to
strike him with his loaded weapon,
while the mates seized Delaying pins
and dashed in to knock down as MANY
men as they could. The sailors ran
forward, and I heard some sof them
begging for mercy. The officers fol-
lowed them. evidently determined to
wreak savage vengeance, and it was
only when driven to the windlass that
the men turned. 1t was case of self
defence. l could not well, see what
followed, but I heard pistol shots.
savage cries, great struggle, and. as
wheel and ran forward. All was over
when got to the foremost The three
officers were dead or dying. Herbert
and another sailor were dead, and of
the re mainder of the men at least five
were seriously wounded. The mutiny
had not lasted above five minutes. For
long time after I reached the bow
the men stood looking around them
without uttering word. Then. at
last, Yankee sailor named Ben Lob
dell. who had a bullet in his left
shoulder, stood out a little from the
rest and said:
MATES, we have been driven to
mutiny and murder Aye, every man
of you knows we had to turn to save
our own lives against these officers
lying dead. 1t has all come about
through the bad grub. I shall now
order the cook to prepare us break
fast, and after that is eaten we shall
consult as to what is to be done
Meanwhile, as in duty bound, will
set signal of distress"
The steward got the flag from the
locker in the cabin and it was proper
ly set. Then the hurts of the wounded
were looked to, and by that time
breakfast was ready. = 1t was served
in our dishes and eaten on deck, and
not man of us had a word to say.
just as we were finishing the cook
and steward came out in company
and hoped we would spare their lives.
Ben got up and replied:
Don't take us for either muffin GERS
or murderers. What has been done
was only in self-defence. The life of
every man here is as safe as in his
own home. Now. then, the first
thing is to see who of the poor fellows
lying on the decks has bit of life left
in him."
The captain and first mate were
dead enough, as was the case with the
two sailors, but the second mate had
life in him. When the men were
driven to bay they turned and
used their sheath knives and
the caps and bars. The sec
ond mate had his left arm broken, and
had received two stabs. We took him
down to his berth. removed his clothes
and dressed his hurts. and when the
steward had prepared him drink he
opened his eyes, and when he found
that we were in possession of the ship
he said. in the presence of four men:
II expected it would turn out this
way, but had to obey orders. While
you have done for me, bear you no
grudge. If you will draw up state
ment of how it came about, / will sign
it,
I drew up statement of facts. and
the mate, who hadn't two hours to live,
affixed his signature, and it was fol-
lowed by the name of every man in the
ship Before noon he was dead. and
after dinner we buried all the bodies
and made the ship tidy. By mutual
consent, Ben was made captain, and a
sailor named Jack Wonder was select
ed as mate. 1t was our purpose to sail
the ship back to Glasgow, and not
man was allowed in the cabin, nor
were any of the stores disturbed, ex-
cept the provisions. The signal was
kept flying all day, but, owing
to the calm, we did not move
steamer came up with us, sent
boat aboard, and when told of what
had happened she put several men
aboard and got out tow line and
made fast to us. It was thus we re-
turned to port, and the news of our ar
rival and the mutiny kicked up grand
excitement. We were at once put un-
der arrest as we expected to be, and
for the first week or two all the talk
was to the effect that every man of US
would be hanged. 1t didn't seem to
occur to the people at large that We
could have any defense. and we were
condemned long enough before the
trial came on. The owners of the ship
were rich as well as penurious. and
they wanted us executed as warning
to other sailors. However, when the
trial came on the general public got
something to open their eyes. Our
lawyers had had the provisions in
snected hv medical men. and had